18th JUNE ~ HiSTORY ON THiS DAY

June 18th ~ This Day in History video by History.com ~ 1812 : War of 1812 began : The day after the Senate followed the House of Representatives in voting to declare war against Great Britain, President James Madison signed the declaration into law on the 18th June 1812, and the war began. The American war declaration, opposed by a sizable minority in Congress, had been called in response to the British economic blockade of France, the induction of American seaman into the British Royal Navy against their will, and the British support of hostile Indian tribes along the Great Lakes frontier. A faction of Congress known as the War Hawks had been advocating war with Britain for several years, without hiding their hopes that a U.S. invasion of Canada might result in significant territorial land gains for the United States. | & more about history on this day in the video…